Liberation Day in Italy, “O Bella Ciao” and all that Jazz.

If it were up to music, Liberation Day would be a festive occasion for all Italians. Celebrating the end of the Far in Italy, however, is always a bit awkward due to the never-ending battle between the political left and right.

If something unites Italians, however, that something is music, particularly jazz. Indeed, Italians have been in love with jazz ever since Warner Brothers presented the world’s first talking-picture feature, The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson in October of 1927.

It is a known fact that Mussolini, a self taught violinist not without talent, loved American music and films, which he would listen to, and view, in the comfort of his home even during WW II. “Cine Città”, Rome’s Hollywood on the Tiber was built during Fascism to tickle the Duce’s fancy and that of Vittorio Mussolini, the Duce’s eldest son who saw himself as a movie mogul. Creativity ran in Benito’s family as witnessed also by Romano Mussolini, the Duce’s youngest son who would become a talented piano player in post-war Italy.

The song, “O Bella Ciao” has become associated with Liberation Day.So much so that even foreigners have heard of the catchy tune. “O Bella Ciao” pays homage to the Partisans who fought behind the lines harassing German and Italian soldiers in North Italy after the Cassibile Armistice of September 8, 1943, had split the country in two.

With the King in the deep south and Mussolini in the far north, Italy’s so-called civil war would divide Italians politically for decades, long after World War II had ended.

By his actions the King clearly showed he preferred unconditional surrender to the Allies to uncertain victory on the side of Nazi Germany, even after Mafalda, one of his daughters was kidnapped from her home in Rome by German agents and taken to Germany as a hostage.

The Partisans who resisted NaziFascists were of diverse political persuasions. In time, however, the Communists would emerge as the driving political force behind the Resistance. After the War, the Italian Communist Party would grow to become the biggest Communist Party outside of the Soviet Union. In time that Party would come to dominate the political life of Italy and soon the myth that the Partisans were predominately Communist became legend, and the legend, fact.

Today many Italians actually believe their Country was freed of the NaziFascists by Communist Partisans acting practically alone. Forgotten are the Allied Armies and the Partisans of other political persuasions that also fought against the Nazis and Fascists.

Today, the only ones most people remember are the Communists. After all, someone even wrote a song about them!

And so, separating fact from fiction becomes pointless in a country where for 70 years at least 50% of the legislators were made up of card-carrying Communists. Italy’s Constitution and Institutions have been heavily influenced by Communism. The education system, the bureaucrats, especially the independent judiciary, which are or can be judges and public prosecutors at the same time, have all been influenced by Communism.

Today, there is hardly anyone left with knowledge of the historical facts. What difference could it possibly make if the Allies lent the Partisans a hand in freeing Italy of the NaziFascists?